Twinkie Cupcakes

I don’t know if any of you are Walking Dead fans, but the show is pretty much the glue that bonds me, my brother and Jessie together. When it comes to zombies and those crazy-annoying characters, we love it…

to DEATH.

Whatever.

Well, they do. I want so badly to love it to death but honestly, the horrible main characters are what holds me back. The blood-thirsty, flesh-hungry zombies are fine & good… impeccable acting and wonderful character development, may I add. But the main dudes and dudettes? Gag me.

I mean, Laurie is possibly THE STUPIDEST woman ever. First of all, she basically tells everyone what to do and then walks around doing nothing. “We should make Hershel dinner… how about you two do it?” “We should bury their bodies… you guys can dig the holes.” “Rick and Glen, go into town to get Hershel. Damn, I can’t trust they’ll go into town to get Hershel so I’ll go myself and crash the car because I’m a dumb trollop.”

Basically.

Then there’s Rick. He’s all goody-two-shoes and if his conscious could be half the size it is, he’d probably be a more likable character. Right now, I’m only getting by on Rick because he’s semi-attractive and I’ve grown to have a weird love affair with his Southern accent. So what.

OMG, don’t even get me started on Shane. I. HATE. SHANE. He’s by far the most intolerable mother-you-know EVER and I wish I could hit him over the head with a shovel and turn him into walker food. He’s that bad. Worst part? I cringe every time I watch because unfortunately, Shane is a dead ringer for one of my ex-boyfriends. Blah.

The only semi-tolerable character I can find among all this lunacy? Darryl, the hick with the homemade shivs and Carl, who looks like a younger version of my boyfriend so every time he comes on screen I squeal, “look, it’s Lil Jessie!” It’s really cute & stuff.

I have to say, with all this zombie craze going on I’ve been thinking about how I’d survive the zombie apocalypse and stuff. It’s just so mind-boggling thinking about how I’d get ahold of food and things when zombies are strolling around everywhere and more importantly, what I’d do when that food expires.

Seriously… it’s scary to think about having no more canned goods. Those stewed tomatoes you imagined would last a lifetime in your pantry? Sorry, girl, but they’ll go bad in 2014. If the apocalypse happened tomorrow, those would only be good for TWO YEARS.

Oh, the horror!

So basically I think that producers of canned goods should barricade their factories so they’d be zombie-free zones and I can still get my canned peas if all goes to hell.

One of my fave zombie movies is Zombieland, the one with Emma Stone and that awkward dude. In it, Woody Harrelson plays a zombie-killing lone wolf who has a serious love for Twinkies. Though his quest for Twinkies runs dry most of the time (including breaking and entering into several grocery stores and even a Hostess truck to search for the snack cakes) he eventually scores big-time.

It got me thinking: why are people so peeved that Twinkies have a long shelf-life? I mean, sure, they’re chock-full of preservatives, but that’s what makes food good. Your kids probably hate Brussels sprouts because they’re not loaded with preservatives, so throw some Ding Dongs in that pot and I guarantee they’ll love them.

Plus, when zombie apocalypse happens, what the hell are you organic-loving, grass-fed-beef-eating people going to eat? I can sure as hell guarantee it ain’t butternut-squash-roasted-quinoa with a delicate lemon-butter-caper chicken. Cause uh, who’s going to harvest those capers? Not you. Not I.

Y’all will be eating Twinkies and Snowballs and Nutty Bars. So I think it’s a good idea that Twinkies last forever since we will all live happy lives in a desolate earth eating creme-filled snack cakes.

The End.

Oh, by the way, before the virus hits, I made some Twinkie Cupcakesyou can enjoy now. You know, while we have milk and eggs and stuff. And you should make them; they’re really good and will make you feel energized and stuff, like Brussels sprouts but better.

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two muffin tins with about 20 paper liners. Set aside.
2. Prepare cake mix according to package directions, stirring the box of pudding mix into the cake batter to blend. Portion batter evenly among muffin cups, about 2/3 full, and bake for approx. 15-18 mins or until golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool completely, the core out the cupcake’s middles with a sharp, small paring knife, careful not to cut through the entire cupcake. Eat or discard centers.
3. First, dissolve the salt into the hot water and allow to cool. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together the marshmallow cream, butter, powdered sugar and vanilla extract until fluffy. Beat in the salt water. Mixture should be light but not as stiff as frosting.
4. Scoop filling into a resealable plastic bag, seal tight, and snip off a corner of the bag. Pipe the filling into each cored cupcake, filling just to the top. Refrigerate cupcakes while you prepare the frosting.

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together the fluff, butter and vanilla until combined & creamy, about 2 mins. Gradually begin adding powdered sugar in, about one cup at a time, until frosting is light and fluffy.
2. Pipe frosting onto cooled cupcakes, careful to cover the filled center with frosting. Store frosted cupcakes airtight, preferably in the fridge. They’re super good cold! If desired, garnish with thin slices of Twinkies.

I think the filling and the soft, moist cake is a dead ringer for Twinkies… and my Hostess-lovin’ family thought so, too! How fun would these be at a kid’s birthday party? Or, uh, for Wednesday’s after-dinner dessert, hmm?

Ugh, YES–zombie apocalypse. If I were some psycho fan I would say “yes you MUST watch it!!” but honestly, half the time I feel like my time is better spent since I inevitably end up leaving the room after the show visibly angry at the characters SO, if you like annoying characters and blood and guts and zombies, then it’s your show. Well, the zombies are cool, anyway. Haha.

I grew up on those non-expiring “baked” goods in my lunchboxes so I’m with ya! After reading this post and thinking about the contents of my pantry – it’s pretty much doomsday for me. Must. Stock. Up. On. Twinkies. NOW!!!

You seriously summed up my feelings for the characters in WD. I HATE SHANE. grrr I cannot even begin to explain how much I hate him…and funny enough, he’s a dead ringer for my stepdad, who I’m not too keen on. Darryl is by far the most likable.

Yeah, Darryl has been typecast from Boondock Saints to Walking Dead which is fine by me! Sometimes it seems like he’s the only one who makes sense. I just can’t.stand.ANYONE else, really. Except Sunday’s episode, Andrea was my #1. I really, really hate erryone else.

My inside cream was very runny? I even tried to add more marshmallow and powdered sugar, but didn’t work. I’m hoping it will thicken in the refrigerator. Anyone else have thus problem? I did use softened butter, could that be the problem?

Hi there! If your butter was more on the melty side, it could be part of the problem. Otherwise, I’m not sure why it could be so runny. Sometimes, I need to add a lot of powdered sugar to get it to stiffen up; I’m sure once it sets in the fridge, it’ll thicken up some more. I’m sorry it isn’t as thick as you’d like, but I’m positive it’ll still taste good good luck!

OMG you so love and hate the same people I love and hate from TWD!!! I couldn’t say it better. I red your post to my husband he was shocked to found out someone else feels the same I do. I only enjoy watching the walkers, i gave a try to see if I could be one in the show, but I wasnt that lucky!! Anyway, that buttercream sounds terrific and it is on my list to give it a try Asap.

Tried making these tonight. They were alright. The cake itself was delicious! I never thought of putting pudding in cake mix. I wasn’t sure about the filling just from tasting it, but in the end it came through fine. It was a little too buttery though. But the frosting I just couldn’t get right. I followed the instructions and it was so thick! I added some milk to thin it which helped a lot but it was still very gritty and very, very sweet (in almost a sickening way). Next time I will try some other frosting and a lot less butter! Thanks for the great start!

Hey Kim! Sorry the frosting didn’t turn out to your expectations! I’m gonna take another look at the recipe and see that it wasn’t an accident on my part with measurements. Otherwise, thanks for giving it a try and leaving feedback! I’m glad you liked the cake and I could pass on the tip about instant pudding–seriously foolproof.

My family and I get zombie stuff for each other all the time.
I got Resident Evil trilogy for Valentine’s and Resident Evil 4 for Christmas……lol
You are hilarious and describe Walking Dead perfectly, but you should know the character Rick is actually English and was in a show called After Life that was AWESOME!!
Making these cupcakes for my Anniversary Friday.

Hi Ann Marie! Yes, I use Wilton’s Open Star Tip #1M. You can find it at Hobby Lobby and Michael’s. Just attach the tip onto your icing bag, fill the bag with frosting, and gently swirl the frosting onto the tops of the cupcakes in a clockwise motion. You can also use this tip to make drop flowers and stars

Hi Andrea, I know–those boxes are funky and I don’t know why one is smaller and the other is larger. Either way, you can get away with using the entire box of either size. I’ve made cupcakes with the bigger pudding box and the smaller pudding box and they turn out great either way!

I’m a little confused on the recipe. On line #3 you state “First, dissolve the salt into the hot water and allow to cool. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together the marshmallow cream…” (I’M ASSUMING THIS IS THE 7OZ JAR OF MARSHMALLOW FLUFF?) Is the filling the same as the topping? Also, your list of ingredients say “1/3 cup of powdered sugar”, but the “marshmallow buttercream” list “about 1 32oz bag of powdered sugar”. The ingredient list also allows for ½ cup of butter but the ‘marshmallow buttercream” calls for 2 sticks of butter. Vanilla extract calls for ½ tsp but the “marshmallow buttercream” calls for 1tsp of vanilla extract. This looks amazing and I cannot wait to make them! I just want to make them right!

Hey Amanda! Sorry my ingredients appear to be confusing. Usually for my cupcake recipes, I write out my list of ingredients for the cupcakes, and a list of ingredients for the frosting. It helps me see it visually better than clumping it all into one list. So technically, you will need all of the cupcake ingredients PLUS all of the frosting ingredients. 1/2 cup of butter goes toward the cupcakes, plus an additional 2 sticks of butter goes toward the frosting… see what I’m saying? Hope that clarifies it for ya; sorry it was a bit confusing!

I made the cupcake, cored them out. For the filling do I prepare a marshmallow buttercream recipe and add the butter, pwd sugar, vanilla, salt and hot water to that AND then prepare a second marshmallow butter cream for the top of the cupcake. In the recipe it says to add the marshmallow cream. Do you mean marshmallow fluff? Or for the filling do I just add ingredients Amanda has listed below under filling? Sorry to be so confusing!!! I made it tonight as a trial for a baby shower and I just used the marshmallow buttercream as the filling and frosting. I would love to make it exactly how you recommend it here! Thanks so much!

Make that according to the directions and fill the cored cupcakes with that mixture. Then, the marshmallow buttercream is separate — that’s the frosting part only. Though you sure could fill and frost with the buttercream, but that recipe above ^^ is just for the filling so in other words, you’ll need 2 jars of marshmallow fluff/cream. Let me know if you have any more questions!

I made these for a shower I hosted today. I thought the end product did not taste like twinkies. I followed the recipe to a T. They are definitely VERY sweet I had a lot of people like them, some thought they were ok. I topped them off with bowler hats and mustaches! It was Charlie Chaplin themed.

These sound amazing! I hope you are still watching Walking Dead – because this season has knocked my socks off. I have to say Laurie has always driven me nuts – Rick I always loved, his level head etc. and Glenn – they need him whether they know it or not. Shane… ugh wanted to kill him so bad during season 2. The way this show keeps evolving to me is amazing. I like that it shows you how life can, will go one after the zombie invasions… wow I just said that like I think it’s right around the corner… I totally think like you though… and they address what happens when the food runs out in this season.

WOw… that was a long comment for a thanks for the twinkie recipe especially now that hostess is going bust.

I made these today and the cake and filling are great! I don’t think the powdered sugar amount in the frosting is right. I only added a little over half and I still needed to add milk. It was way too stiff and too sweet. I will try them again with less butter and powdered sugar in the frosting.

These look absolutely amazing!! I’m going to try them this weekend, can’t wait!
May I ask what size piping tip you used?
I’ve been driving myself crazy buying different size tips to get the right size piping I want!
Thanks!!

Ok
So wd….. shane reminds me of my ex too… funny thing is is that his name is shane. Ha go figure.lol
On to cupcakes….. I used a cupcake corer thingy I got for xmas and used the cupcake center to make adult cupcake balls.
Took your advice from another response and used the marshmallow flavored vodka with some of the icing.
Omg
They were sooo good.
Thanks for the recipe. I will def. Pinn it

I made these tonight for a fundraiser tomorrow. The only thing I changed was that I made my yellow cake from scratch, the box would have been easier but I’m trying to maintain my reputation I thought your directions were very clear and easy to follow. My favorite part of this recipe is the buttercream, it is AMAZING!!! I am so excited about the buttercream. I will use it for many cakes to come. Thank you for sharing this! I can’t wait to share my cupcakes tomorrow.

Just a thought about the powdered sugar for the frosting. The recipe says 1 bag of 32 oz. That is the larger powdered sugar bag. Don’t they also make a 16 oz bag? I wound up not adding the entire 32 oz bag because the frosting was just getting firmer and firmer. However, it turned out super yummy. And the filling?? O. M. G. So much love!! Next time I want to cut out even more of the cupcake to fit even more filling in there. (or maybe just eat the filling with a spoon…..)

Hey Kristi! You’re right .. I suggest the 32 oz bag because I hate not having enough powdered sugar (especially when making icing in the summer and its prone to deflating quickly!) but you could def. get away with using less. So glad you enjoyed them!!

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